


Arc One: Evolution

by VelociProject



Series: Veloci Project [2]
Category: Veloci Project
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comedy, Dark Comedy, Epic Battles, F/F, Family Dynamics, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Heroes to Villains, LGBTQ Character, Mentor/Protégé, Nonbinary Character, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Fiction, Other, Superheroes, Villains to Heroes, villain
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-25 09:01:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30086688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VelociProject/pseuds/VelociProject
Summary: The first installment of the Veloci Project series and the origins of how the Velocipastors became a team of vigilante superheroes. After a few agents are sent to retrieve a powerful weapon, they meet a mysterious time-traveling hitman and are forced to turn against their own organization and put an end to the corruption with the help of vigilantes.A new chapter is posted every week!
Relationships: Dakota Rhea & Brian Maynard, Dakota Rhea & Maia Chisai & Rachel Reagan, Dakota Rhea & The Ancients, Dakota Rhea & Victoria Evangelina, Dyatlov & Mohit Varadkar, Lexie C. Valerian & Bubbles, Maia Chisai & Mohit Varadkar, Maia Chisai & The Arachnids, Mohit Varadkar & Victoria Evangelina, Mohit Varadkar & Victoria Evangelina & Dyatlov & Maia Chisai, Rachel Reagan & Brian Maynard, Rachel Reagan & Victoria Evangelina, The Velocipastors, The Velocipastors & The Ancients, The Velocipastors & The Arachnids, Vesper & Dyatlov, Vesper & Lexie C. Valerian, Vesper & Victoria Evangelina, Victoria Evangelina & Dyatlov, Victoria Evangelina & Lexie C. Valerian & Bubbles, Victoria Evangelina & Maia Chisai
Series: Veloci Project [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2199720
Comments: 4
Kudos: 14





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> A small team of agents in an elite organization are tasked with tracking down a powerful weapon; a crystal that nearly caused a nuclear apocalypse ten years ago and cursed innocent civilians with superhuman powers and mutations.

“Oh, motherfucker!”

The brunette clenched her teeth as she felt her arm twist abnormally, but was able to retaliate the tall healer’s move as she side-stepped backward and drove her foot into their gut.

They barely managed to catch it, blinking brilliant brown eyes down at the woman before smirking. They yanked the agent backward by grabbing onto her ankle, only to get kicked in the leg, sending both agents to the floor.

Meanwhile, the bubbly blue-haired girl was twirling about in the background, showing more interest in cheering for her friends rather than participating in the combat training herself.

Bubbles was fairly tall with driftwood skin and brilliant golden eyes. Her hair was artfully messy and curly, glowing a sea-green color that faded into a lighter blue. Bubbles had a voice full of sunshine, somewhat squeaky as she cheered at her teammates and waved her arms around.

“You know,” grunted the hazel-eyed woman, quickly climbing back to her feet and adjusting her stance, “...you don’t gotta be so tough, Doc. That’s not your job.”

Lexie was short in height, but her build made her appear much stronger than Bubbles. She had wavy caramel brown hair with blond highlights at the front and hazel eyes that danced with mischief. Her skin was an ivory pink, and her voice was like licorice with a nonchalant and occasionally snarky tone.

“And you’re going to protect me?” They hummed, tilting her head up to the sarcastic agent. “Lexie, you’re not exactly the greatest when it comes to combat.”

Lexie offered a humorless smirk and nodded her head towards the dancing girl in the back of the gymnasium, “Ah, but at least I’m better than Bubbles.” With that, she quickly turned to her best friend and yelled, “Because DANCING isn’t going to save your ass when you’re fighting with fists!”

“It might when you’re getting shot at!” Bubbles chirped innocently.

The medic of the team raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing. When Lexie offered them a hand, they took it with a small “thanks” and climbed to their feet.

“You know, Victoria…” Bubbles hummed, “If you’re so good at combat, why stick with medicine? Director Maynard would have loved to have you on his board.”

Victoria was a fairly tall person depending on who you asked, with sharp chocolate brown eyes and tawny brown skin. Her dark hair was long and curly, reaching just below her shoulders, but was often kept up in a messy bun to avoid tangling it during work. Her voice was calm and welcoming, but her tone would be sassy or playful depending on who she was with.

Victoria sighed and brought her hand up to rub her eyes, “I’m happy where I am.”

“I know, but it wouldn’t have hurt to work with the guy.”

“Are you kidding? Are we talking about the same direc-“

She suddenly yelped as a sharp pain struck her back, stumbling forward and nearly collapsing onto the ground as a result of the sudden attack. 

Lexie smiled proudly as she caught Victoria by surprise, offering Bubbles a thumbs up, “Heeey, nice distraction!” 

“Was that what I was supposed to be doing?” 

Victoria grit her teeth and blindly swiped at Lexie’s throat with little force, not wanting to hurt her friend, “You little shit.”

The trickster barked a laugh, “Oh, come on! You know you always lose to me.”

The healer shook her head and grinned slightly, “The back? Really?”

“What? The old lady can’t handle a blow to the back?”

“It’s not that I’m old, it’s just that I spend all my time and energy carrying this team.”

Bubbles and Lexie groaned in unison, but Victoria was rather proud of the joke. Although it was a bit cocky, so she wondered if it would have been better not said at all.

Victoria was distracted from overthinking her statement when she heard the automatic gym doors open, but Lexie had already noticed their company before the healer could even lookup. The brunette grumbled something under her breath and folded her arms.

“Director Maynard has strictly stated in the past that this gym is for training purposes only,” stated the leader of the approaching group.

Wolf-Spider, the tall agent with concrete brown hair neatly settled in a bun, was famous for being a little too loyal to METEOR’s Director. To put it simply, she was a suck-up, always crawling around and preparing to defend the man no matter his actions.

She stuck her tongue out slightly in disgust, glaring over at Lexie and mocking the shorter woman’s pose. Victoria couldn’t tell if it was because she wanted to annoy Lexie, or if it was because she couldn’t think of any other stance. 

“Oh great, it’s the Arachnids,” Bubbles groaned.

Wolf-Spider didn’t acknowledge the comment, sticking her nose in the air in an effort to establish dominance, “We are scheduled to be in this Gym at this hour. Please leave.”

“It’s 1:45,” Victoria argued with a raised eyebrow, taking a step forward to stand beside her friend. “We still have fifteen minutes in here.”

“Yes, but seeing as you’re messing around, it makes no sense for you to be here any longer,” she argued with a hiss.

Victoria didn’t understand the fuss. The gym they were in was incredibly tiny, and half of the technology wasn’t working properly. 

Another agent from the team interrupted the growing tension, breaking their conversation with the tallest in the process. “Actually, the Director wants to talk to you guys. He says it’s important.”

Lexie blinked in surprise and turned her attention to the small and elegant Silk Worm. As if referencing the first half of their name, the agent had long, silky and sandy blond hair, and bore a long dress in contrast to the usual METEOR uniform. “Are you sure this isn’t some clever scheme to get rid of us? You can just ask us to leave politely and we will, no need to-“

“All do respect, Agent Valerian, but the Director insisted he spoke with you and Agent Evangelina this instant,” the tallest agent with long, sienna brown hair interrupted as she pushed up her glasses and glanced towards Wolf-Spider. 

Victoria couldn’t see her mouth, but she could tell the Dragonfly was biting her lip.

Admittedly, Victoria didn’t know a lot about the Arachnids, only that they were METEOR’s best. The team was full of experienced agents, all having some form of accelerated intelligence and combat skills.

Their teamwork is a bit weak though.

According to Bubbles, Wolf-Spider was cruel to the other agents. In fact, Wolf-Spider regularly replaced her teammates when she deemed them unfit, proclaiming it was a high honor to be working under her and that she wouldn’t take any risks of a weak team.

This would result in the Arachnids always being wary of their actions around the leader. If they upset her too much, they risked being placed in another team.

Or worse, they were removed from METEOR altogether.

Wolf-Spider kept a fierce gaze on the tall agent but thankfully said nothing, glaring back at Lexie and grumbling, “You don’t want to keep him waiting. Go.”

Bubbles was the first to move, quietly taking Lexie’s hand and dragging her forward. Despite the brunette wanting to take a stand, she simply resorted to flipping Wolf-Spider off when she wasn’t looking.

Victoria forced themself to remain respectful, bowing their head to the Arachnids before walking after their friends.

However, Victoria couldn’t help but slow down when she caught the eye of the tiniest Arachnid’s shy gaze. Better yet, the golden wings.

They just looked so stunning. It reminded her of the paintings decorating her old fairy tale books, and Victoria couldn’t help but long to sit in a library and read for weeks on end.

“Wasp,” Wolf-Spider hissed, causing the tiny girl to jump and quickly glance towards her leader. 

Victoria offered a sympathetic smile before bounding after Lexie and Bubbles, who were waiting by the door. As soon as it closed, the trio sighed in relief.

-

“She’s kind of pretty,” Bubbles stated seriously after Lexie had finished her rant.

“Who, Wolf-Spider?” The healer asked breathlessly. “Yeah. But being a bitch kinda ruins the appeal.”

Lexie snorted and raised her eyebrows at the taller agent, “Damn, Tori. And I thought I was pissed.”

“Sorry, I’m not trying to be mean,” Victoria replied with a sigh. “I just- how can somebody act like that? Her own team is scared of her. That’s fucked up.”

“Yeah, but we can’t do anything about it,” Bubbles hummed innocently. 

The brunette clearly disagreed, but never vocalized her thoughts, and instead moved to hold her arm and stretch it out as they walked.

Victoria noticed it was the limb Lexie twisted in training and frowned apologetically, “Hey, sorry if I hurt you back there.”

“What?” Lexie huffed and smirked up at them mischievously. “You didn’t hurt me! I’m just prepping to smack the shit out of her next time we go face-to-face.”

“That’s a bit violent,” chirped the blue-haired agent. “What would everyone think of you then?”

Lexie raised her eyebrows at her best friend, offended that she would ask such a thing. “I don’t care what they think, Bubbles! All I care about is her sitting down and knowing her place in this goddamn organization. It isn’t her world.” The brunette glared forward with a triumphant huff, “How anyone likes it here is beyond me. Just look around you.”

Victoria intently gazed down at the trickster before lifting her head to spectate the agents and scientists swimming around them, rushing to get their jobs done.

Lexie’s got a point. Nobody seems to wanna be here.

Knowing their circumstances and her own history with METEOR, she really couldn’t imagine why they would be happy working there in the first place.

“We’re all METEOR’s puppet,” Lexie concluded darkly

Victoria tuned out for the rest of the conversation, mentally preparing herself for the interaction with the director. The last time she remembered seeing him was when she had enrolled in the organization nearly three years ago.

After at least two more minutes of walking through the base, the trio arrived at the director’s office. They bantered and argued over who should open the door and enter first, and before they could decide, a tall, muscular figure with umber skin, a buzzcut, and dark russet eyes emerged from the space.

Victoria noticed her keycard before it was shoved back in her pocket, and while the healer didn’t get a good look, she recognized the agent was Maynard’s second in command; Rachel Reagan.

You should have known that by the uniform, idiot.

Not much was known about Agent Reagan, only that she joined METEOR long before Director Maynard took over. In fact, she was the previous director’s most loyal officer. She’s incredibly young for her position; the agent has been METEOR’s second in command since she was 22, but any ordinary officer would at least be in their thirties. 

Common knowledge was that Agent Reagan worked on all of her missions alone, but nobody knew why. The officer always refused a team and only worked with other officers when her duty called for it. Victoria just assumed she wasn’t a people person, and Bubbles thought she was hiding something. Lexie didn’t care enough to think about it.

“Oh, hi Agent Reagan!” Bubbles chirped a greeting, but she didn’t seem to hear the jolly agent. Instead, the officer pushed past the group and marched down the hall and towards one of the labs.

Bubbles deflated as she was ignored again, “That was mean.”

“Eh, she’s a government official. All they do is ignore people,” Lexie deadpanned and pulled out her own keycard.

She opened the office doors with a simple scan before walking in, Victoria and Bubbles following alongside her.

Automatically, Victoria was hit with a strong smell of cologne and had to resist physically reacting to the odor. When she was able to recover, she took in the room, shocked by how… boring it was.

The office had no windows, so its only light source was the various lamps in the room. Towards the corner of the farthest wall sat a gray armchair, a small coffee table resting a few inches in front of it. On the other wall was a trophy case flooded with dozens of awards and medals, including small ones like “Best Dressed.” Around the shelves were photographs of the director and people Victoria didn’t recognize. The walls were a silver color, which unfortunately blended with all of the furniture. 

Bubbles looked like she wanted to cry at the lack of color in the room, and Victoria really couldn’t blame her. 

Seated at the long glass desk was a tall middle-aged man with rosy white skin, his hair light silver, and thick black glasses covering the majority of his small forehead. His brows were bushy, and his eyes were a light ebony, always sparkling as if up to something. The director unexpectedly had a colorful wardrobe, wearing a navy blue two-button suit and a magenta tie. 

The three quickly saluted their director, placing their left fists on their chests and folding their right arms behind their backs. Bubbles had been a bit sluggish in her movement, and Lexie didn’t rush the salute, not really caring about whatever consequences there would be if the director noticed.

“Please, please, we’re all friends here,” the director spoke after he cleared his throat, rising to his feet and smiling kindly at the team. 

Victoria held themself back from cringing and forced a delicate, “You requested our presence, Director Maynard? How may we assist?”

Their speech was too fancy for their liking, but to be fair, they were rusty.

The older gentleman seemed to think for a moment, quietly looking over each agent. Then, he pushed up his glasses with one hand, and moved to grasp a mushroom-sized foam ball seated on top of his desk.

“Tell me, ladies. Do you recall the end of the world?’”

Victoria stiffened at the question, not quite understanding what Maynard was referring to, but knowing the implications behind it.

Looking to her right, she saw Lexie and Bubbles had the same struggle, although they seemed a little more panicked. Bubbles looked like a deer in headlights.

“You mean…” Victoria trailed off, brows furrowed in confusion, “I’m sorry, are you referring to…”

“Yes. ‘The Flowering,’ ‘The Birth of Hades,’ ‘The Big Bang…’’ Maynard huffed, “But most of us recall it as ‘Deicide Day.’”

Lexie ran a hand through her hair and looked off to the side, “Really rolls off the tongue, huh?”

Maynard chuckled briefly at Lexie’s remark, “Now, what do you all know of the event?”

Unsurprising to Victoria, nobody volunteered to speak up. It was a sensitive topic to be brought up and was often neglected in any conversation; not even the News wanted to cover it. Those involved in the accident were traumatized, and since it happened only a few years ago, nobody was even close to recovering.

“We don’t have all day, ladies,” Maynard spoke again, this time a little frustrated.

“It’s the day everything changed, sir,” Victoria breathed. “People were exposed to radioactivity from a chemical weapon... By 2021, ten percent of the population’s DNA had reformed itself, and seven percent lived to develop superhuman abilities. Because of their newfound powers and the loss of stability, crime increased, and our world went into heretics.”

“So society separated them,” Lexie murmured, glancing up at the medic with sharp hazel eyes. “We called them Shards. We deemed them inhuman, and you declared war on them.” At that, the brunette looked at Maynard, unimpressed. “Most of them had to go into hiding. Meanwhile, civilians were forced to become agents for your military organization… which was formerly peaceful, by the way.”

Bubbles was shivering the entire explanation, majorly because of Lexie’s bold remarks towards their boss. The blue-haired woman hated violence, and when combined with the topic of joining METEOR, she was a panicked mess. 

Victoria was a bit sympathetic to the reaction, understanding all too well how difficult it was talking about the incident and its origins. Their voice had trembled at times while they spoke, but she was ultimately saved by her calm exterior.

Maynard slightly tilted his head at Lexie, unimpressed by the challenge, but thankfully unangry as well. After tapping his fingers on the tiny styrofoam ball, he hummed, “There are a few details you left out of your exposition.”

Strutting forward and past the trio, the director settled in front of one of his lamps. He clicked the switch a few times, each click changing the bulb to a different color, and eventually settled on hot pink. Holding the white styrofoam ball up to the light, it mocked the pink hue and glowed before the eyes of the agents.

“It wasn’t a chemical weapon, it was a crystal.” Maynard adjusted his hold on the ball slightly, “A small pink one. That’s why we call them Shards, Agent Valerian. We named them after the source of their mutations.”

Lexie’s eyes narrowed slightly as she was addressed, but she said nothing, unconsciously moving her hand to Bubbles so the panicked woman could cling onto it for comfort.

“Second of all,” Maynard continued, “...yes, this organization was once peaceful, but the crime wasn’t relevant then. METEOR is an organization dedicated to halting matters that our own government can’t handle, like otherworldly objects or beings.” 

He removed the styrofoam ball from the lamp and dropped it in Victoria’s hands, “The crystal was brought here by an outside group, whom you may recall as the world’s theater kids playing hero. So, when the crystal turned civilians into mutants, they understandably went into hiding, and nobody was ever heard from again. The crystal was lost, too.”

“There’s a ‘but’ coming up somewhere,” Lexie mumbled, and Victoria held back a smirk.

“But,” Maynard continued, and Lexie cheered quietly from her spot in the back.

“We found it,” he grinned, forcing Victoria to close her hands and shield the ball from the outside world. “And I want you to retrieve it.”


	2. The Crystal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victoria, Lexie, and Bubbles make their journey to the home of the crystal, Bimini Island, and have to be wary of the radiation and a potential visitor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for how short this chapter is! I plan to write them a bit smaller so they're easier to read and it can all be done in one sitting. It can also help with catching certain details and foreshadowed events!
> 
> As always, kudos & comments are greatly appreciated!

Lexie twiddled with her ring finger as she sat back in her seat, her gaze planted on the rising sun settled outside of the jet’s window. The sky was slowly fading into a brilliant pink, and after blinking a bit and looking around, she figured out it had been eight hours since they were sent on the mission, and it was approaching 6 A.M.

_Right. The mission._

The brunette grumbled something under her breath and curled up slightly in the seat, resting her chin on the arm-rest and shutting her eyes in an attempt to get some more sleep. Usually, that came easy for her, but the pit in her stomach only caused her to squirm around in the small chair.

Someone seemed to notice this because she heard someone else shift in their seat, and opened an eye to see two golden eyes staring back.

Jumping with a shriek, Lexie instinctively swung at the figure; since it was a common occurrence, Bubbles took a step back and waited for her friend to recover from the scare.

“Bubbles,” Lexie growled, rubbing her face with a hand.

Bubbles smiled awkwardly as she tipped her head down at her shorter friend, “You were squirming, so I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Lexie bowed her head with a huff and patted her seat aggressively, “This chair is just very uncomfortable, I’m fine.”

The blue-haired girl just stared for a moment, looking ready to believe the trickster. However, she seemed to detect something in Lexie’s expression and knowingly glanced towards the leader.

Victoria was in the pilot’s seat despite not being one herself. The jet had set coordinates and its own means of flying, and the actual pilot had been an A.I. that the METEOR scientists and engineers produced only a few months ago. He had an official name, but Lexie resorted to calling him “Harry.” 

Despite being promised a comfortable flight, everyone wasn’t comfortable with giving METEOR total control of their transport, so the three switched seats every few hours and took charge of making sure the jet didn’t crash or get caught in any surprise weather.

The two watched silently as Victoria flipped through another page of her book, and Bubbles stepped slightly forward to make sure they wouldn’t hear her next sentence. After confirming Victoria had headphones on and was most likely listening to music or some other audio, she turned back to Lexie.

“Nothing is stopping us from telling her.”

Lexie’s brows raised in surprise at the change of topic, just glaring up at Bubbles before shaking her head and dropping it back down on the armrest. 

“Wasn’t my call.” The brunette gestured to the area around them with a wave, “Besides, Maynard could be listening in.”

“Since when are you worried about Maynard?” She furrowed her brows and frowned, “Victoria will figure it out eventually, why not just say something now?”

“We’re sworn to secrecy, and anyone else knowing puts everyone in danger,” the trickster hissed. “You can’t stir up unnecessary drama right now. We’ll tell her when we get to that point.”

“Tell me what?”

Both Bubbles and Lexie glanced up towards their leader, who was turned slightly in their seat, gazing at them with a raised eyebrow and a quizzical smirk.

Lexie automatically pointed at Victoria, “That book you’re reading sucks and you should feel bad about it.”

Victoria blinked wildly at the claim and gasped dramatically, turning completely in her seat to throw the book straight at Lexie. It bounced off her head, and the brunette melted in her seat as she smiled with pained amusement.

“I’m serious. Who enjoys Hamlet unironically?”

“Just because the book traumatized you in High School English doesn’t mean you can throw shade at the people who actually have taste,” Victoria wrinkled her nose at Lexie.

Lexie stuck her tongue out stubbornly and closed her eyes, “If I wasn’t half-asleep, I would argue this further. All I have to say is, Victoria, you’re incredibly boring.”

“You have a problem with Hamlet, but I read Romeo and Juliet and it’s fine?”

She shot up in her seat, “That play is at least somewhat entertaining! The reader gets to bully two dumb kids the entire time, and that’s the best part!”

“I liked Gnomeo and Juliet a lot when I was a kid,” Bubbles stated unhelpfully, and smiled innocently at the two as they turned to look at her.

Victoria and Lexie exchanged a semi-amused look, and Victoria turned back to the control panel.

The brunette gazed at Bubbles with a tired hum, “I’ve never watched it.”

Lexie automatically realized her mistake as Bubbles blinked at her friend in horror, “Well, we have to change that right now!” Bubbles twisted around and raced to grab what Lexie knew had to be her computer, something Bubbles always dragged with her on long trips. Most jet rides were the same; Bubbles and Lexie watched a show or a movie, and Victoria would read. Depending on what they were watching, the leader would join them.

“Victoria, how much time do we have left in the air!?”

“Two hours and fifteen minutes.”

“Perfect!” 

Lexie helplessly glanced at Victoria and put her hands together, making a pleading gesture at the healer, who showed little sympathy for her friend.

Victoria mouthed ‘Play dead,’ then turned around in her chair to continue reading.

“I stand by what I said,” Lexie muttered as Bubbles began setting up the movie.

* * *

Victoria ignored her legs as they throbbed with pain and slowly continued hiking up the side of the mountain. Lexie and Bubbles were close behind, discussing their movie in between complaining about how they should have stretched before the mission. 

_“Director, I hate to interrupt you, but how exactly did you find the crystal?” Victoria had asked with a quizzical eyebrow raise. “It’s been missing for years, and there’s no way of detecting it.”_

_“That’s the thing, Agent Evangelina. Prior to The Deity, nobody knew about their weapon. It was only discovered when the incident took place, and it went back into hiding right after.”_

_“So you’re saying it was activated?”_

_Maynard grinned, “Precisely. Someone activated it.”_

_Lexie and Bubbles exchanged a concerned look, and Victoria stepped forward, “And I assume that ‘someone isn’t associated with METEOR. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be sending us there.”_

_“Agent Reagan and I have looked into it, but there was no trace left of whoever’s responsible.” He chuckled, “But if I ever found him… why, I’d shake his hand.”_

According to the director, the crystal was hidden in the caverns of North Bimini Island. 

The crystal left a radioactive signature, so the team was given a RIDD that would help them identify the crystal and be wary of the growing radiation. 

But what’s the radiation, and how harmful is it?

Victoria didn’t trust Maynard’s ideals. If he needed a team to retrieve a dangerous weapon, why not send his most trusted one? 

After another ten minutes of hiking and climbing around the rocky surface, the trio finally arrived on a cliff-side, which opened up to a large cavern. The sun was only barely alive, and Victoria found reassurance in being met with a blue sky after a journey in the dark. 

Behind her, Bubbles was wiggling her fingers and stretching out her legs. Lexie was slumped over and nonchalantly staring into the cavern, not too excited for their approaching adventure. 

“Do you guys need a minute before we go in?” Victoria questioned.

“Nope,” Lexie popped the ‘p’ and smirked at the healer, and Bubbles, looking a little more awkward, just gave a thumbs up. 

The three stood in silence for a moment, not sure what to do. 

_Do we exchange last words or something?_

“We’ll be in and out,” Bubbles reassured herself. “It’ll take ten minutes.”

“You got the RIID?”

“Yeah,” Lexie pulled the device out of her bag and tossed it to Victoria. “Lead the way, granny.”

Victoria scrunched their nose at Lexie before turning and making their way into the cavern.

Everyone turned on a flashlight almost immediately, and the crew quickly traveled down the tunnels in muted silence. As they continued, Victoria heard the RIID begin to click, and would occasionally point it in different directions to figure out where to turn. Surprisingly, the journey was easy, minus the occasional creepy crawly and the panicked shrieks. 

She didn’t like how quiet Bubbles and Lexie were, especially when the clicks of the device became more frantic. Victoria’s head hurt, and her skin burned, but the duo didn’t seem to be affected at all. At one point, Bubbles whispered something to Lexie, and Victoria’s skin crawled.

It was unnerving, and a little frustrating. 

Victoria paused for a moment, feeling light-headed and hot. Wordlessly, she handed the device to Bubbles and pulled up her mane of curls into a messy bun. “Am I the only one feeling this?”

Bubbles blinked, “Feeling what?”

“Hot, dizzy?” Lexie mumbled and pointed the flashlight at Victoria, temporarily blinding her before she could shield her eyes. “Yeah.”

“Maybe we should turn back,” the blue-haired girl suggested. 

Lexie shook her head, “We didn’t spend eleven hours of our day walking around on an island for twenty minutes. If it gets dangerous, then we can consider it.”

“It’s dangerous already. We don’t have anything protecting us from the radiation,” the healer stated somewhat sternly. “METEOR didn’t give us anything.”

Bubbles frowned, “Well- yeah, but—“

“What are you suggesting, Victoria?” Lexie lowered the flashlight and tipped her head. “Maynard’s sending us to our deaths?”

“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting,” Victoria huffed. “Think about it. Why send a team he rarely interacts with? Why without any proper gear?” The healer gestured to their jackets, “An extra layer of clothing won’t do anything.”

“Guys.”

Lexie shook her head, “I hear you, but I’m gonna argue that it’s still possible to get through. Someone activated the crystal, right? That means they got close to it, even with all the radiation.”

“But we don’t know if it was radioactive before the fact.”

“Guys…”

“So what do you want to do, Victoria? Are we supposed to give up and walk back to Maynard empty-handed?”

“I’m not risking your lives so Maynard can take advantage of something that doesn’t even belong to him.” Victoria threw her hands down to her sides and glared down at Lexie.

“We’ll be risking our lives going back to Maynard without the crystal!”

“We could die getting it in the first place! What aren’t you telling me?!” Victoria interrogated, her voice edged with desperation.

Lexie twitched harshly, “W- why would you ask me something like that!?!”

“You know something about this crystal, don’t you? Why are you and Bubbles so quiet? What was that back on the jet? What are you keeping from me?”

“GUYS!”

Lexie and Victoria both glared at Bubbles, who was holding the device towards something settled behind them. The RIID beeped frantically as if screaming at the team that something was approaching, and they needed to retreat.

Victoria felt dizzy as the radiation began to take a toll on her, her skin burning and her breath growing heavy. She squinted at Bubbles for a moment, then looked at Lexie, who had concerned hazel eyes glued on the healer. The trio quietly listened as the device’s beeps grew quicker and quicker, and then Victoria realized something.

The crystal was behind them.

She turned her head and quickly craned her flashlight up towards a wall, but was met with a dark silhouette facing the trio, causing the three to shriek.

The figure was unmoving but alive, clutching the pink crystal that Victoria had to assume was the one they came for in their gloved hands. They wore a helmet, with fiery red stripes and crimson glass shielding their eyes. The first thing Victoria noticed, though, was the ragged white cloak, messy and torn from what they assumed was from days living in a small cave… maybe longer.

Bubbles and Lexie stood frozen, completely mute as they gazed back at the taller figure. Victoria was swaying a bit in her feet, stumbling slightly as she dropped her head to look down at the crystal.

_Did they activate it?_

And if they did, why weren’t they reacting to the radiation? The suit wouldn’t protect them from holding the crystal, not if it was that strong. Again, not a single human had that ability.

_Unless…_

Suddenly, the figure lifted a hand and made some kind of gesture, and an orange, circular light appeared right behind them, waiting for the summoner to make contact with it.

_They’re a Shard._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cliff-hanger go brr

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated! Sorry that this chapter was a lot of exposition, I promise the next one will be much more exciting! 
> 
> Also, Victoria's pronouns are she/they, thus why they change here and there
> 
> Thank you for reading, I hope you stick around for next week's chapter! :D


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